Things to Do in Plymouth

The city of Plymouth is one of the UK’s most popular cities to study in and is home to a thriving port and a huge number of attractions.

In this guide, we will show you the various things to do in Plymouth, talk about the city’s location, the sport in the city, the city’s history & culture, as well as the famous people from Plymouth and the nightlife!

Locations

Located on the South Coast of Devon and is one of the UK’s oldest recorded settlements, dating way back to the Bronze age. Plymouth has a rough population of 261,546 according to the most recent figures.

Things to do in Plymouth

Plymouth has many different places to go to enjoy your evening. The nightlife of Plymouth offers a wide variety of things, whether it be a nightclub that you’re looking for or a regular bar or pub or even a restaurant, Plymouth has most certainly got you covered here! We’ve compiled a list of three places that we think will be perfect for you to look into.

First up we have Oceana, which offers drinks available for £2.50 and free entry all night before 23:00 pm. The club has everything that you could need for a good night out, with drinks that will have your mouth watering and music that will have you jumping from wall to wall and enjoying the night out! Second up, we have Jesters Nightclub, which despite being a nightclub also allows you to watch live sport too! But the club has everything else that you would want from a nightclub such as cool DJ sets and professional photography. We cannot recommend Jesters anywhere near enough. And finally, we have Popworld, which has all the accoutrement that you need to have a top-class nightclub and offers some of the most mouth-watering cocktails that you’ve ever seen before. They even invent their own cocktails too and play some of the coolest music that you’ve ever heard!

Plymouth’s history dates back a very long way and has been something that the city has been proud of for a very long time. The museums that the city has all commemorate the culture and history of the city and are affordable and accessible to all members of the public, whether it be Plymouth City Museum and Art Gallery or the Devonport Naval Heritage Centre.

If you’re looking for the latest and greatest in Hollywood films, then Plymouth has you covered. The city’s main cinemas are Vue Cinemas, Reel Cinemas and the Plymouth Arts Centre – all of which offer everything that you need regarding new releases. However, if you’re looking for more independent releases, then we recommend that you join one of the city’s many film societies.

Plymouth has many different activities that run throughout the year, but of all of them, we recommend the City of Plymouth Festival which takes place annually and gives you a glimpse into what makes Plymouth so great! With live music, dancing and speech. We cannot recommend it highly enough!

Transport

The transport in Plymouth is very good.

The bus services in the city are provided by Plymouth Citybus and Stagecoach mainly, with smaller operators also making up the rest of the city's main services. The city also operates a Park & Ride system as well, with three different services being offered.

Plymouth Railway Station is the main train station in the city and opened in 1877. The station itself is managed by Great Western Railway, though CrossCountry also runs services through the city too.

The city did used to have its own airport, Plymouth City Airport, however, the airport was closed, which means those looking to travel abroad will need to travel to the nearby Exeter.

Universities in the City

There are two universities in the city.

The first is the University of Plymouth, which was originally founded as the School of Navigation in 1862 and eventually received university status in 1992. The students of the university are represented by the University of Plymouth Students' Union (UPSU).

The second university in the city is Plymouth Marjon University (or University of St. Mark and St. John). The university was initially founded in 1923 as the College of St. Mark and St. John, however, the college was granted university status in 2007 and re-branded accordingly.

History

The settlement dates back as far as the Bronze Age and was one of the first prominent trading ports in the pre-Roman land of Britannia. The town was usually referred to as Plym Mouth, as it was at the mouth of the River Plym.

On the 12th of November 1439, the English Parliament actually made Plymouth the first town incorporated. Later, Plymouth Castle was built. The city also developed itself as one of the main ports in the UK for incoming trade and also for various exports. In fact, the Pilgrim Fathers set sail for the New World from Plymouth in 1620 and established the Plymouth Colony in what is now the United States of America.

The city’s time as a prominent trading port for the UK was soon lost as the cost of importing commodities into the city and its port were too high, so the city began to lose a lot of important revenue. Eventually, the city began to develop other sources of industry and imports, such as coal, grain and timber. The town also had some added wealth from the neighbouring town of Plymouth Dock (which is mow Devonport), who were slowly bringing the town’s port back to its former prominence. Eventually, Plymouth’s imports expanded from coal, grain and timber and began to import things like maize, wheat, sodium nitrate, barley, guano, sugar cane and phosphate.

When the First World War broke out, Plymouth was the first and main port of entry for troops who were travelling from elements of what remained of the British Empire, and was a prominent munitions manufacturing city. Plymouth eventually became a city in 1928.

When the Second World War broke out, Devonport (the neighbouring town) was the HQ of Western Approaches Command until 1941. The city of Plymouth was bombed very heavily during World War II by the German Luftwaffe in over 55 separate raids on the city. The Luftwaffe made the dockyards their main targets as well as the city centre. Plymouth’s status as being one of the UK’s foremost ports led to it being one of the German’s many targets.

Sport

The city is well known for its sporting traditions.

The city’s main football club is Plymouth Argyle FC, who play in the Football League One. The team plays at Home Park, in Central Park. There are also three non-league clubs in the city as well, Elburton Villa who play at Haye Road, Plymouth Parkway who play at Bolitho Park, and Plymstock United who play at Dean Cross. Elburton Villa and Plymstock United play in the South West Peninsula League and Plymouth Parkway play in the Western League.

There is also Plymouth Albion Rugby Football Club, who are Plymouth’s main Rugby Union club and were founded in 1875 and compete in the National League 1 and play at The Brickfields.

There is a Basketball club in the city as well, the Plymouth Raiders and play in the British Basketball League. The club plays at the Plymouth Pavilions Entertainment Arena after being founded in 1983.

Who’s from Plymouth?

There are many famous people from the city of Plymouth including Sir Francis Drake, John Hawkins, Trevor Francis, Sharron Davies, Dawn French and Lyndon B. Johnson.